Toasty Toasts

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Sweet Potato Pie

Avant-garde comfort food… as a cocktail? The idea may seem like a different kind of multivalent tongue twister, but that’s exactly what Woodlake Tavern’s bar manager Brett Walker was going for with the North Sacramento restaurant’s new Sweet Potato Pie liquid dessert. “It’s rich and warming, something you just want to sit with and maybe not even with a meal,” Walker says. The colorful drink is a little bit sweet, a little bit savory, a little bit Southern and—topped with vibrant magenta beet-infused whipped cream—a little bit out there.

For Walker, it’s all about creating flavor profiles that are familiar, but in an unfamiliar way. “I’m trying to break the mold by putting things together that you wouldn’t normally think would go together [in a cocktail],” he says. “You might see root vegetables roasted with sage and you eat them—but how do you drink them?” Take it from us—it’s easy as pie. $11. 1431 Del Paso Blvd. 916-514-0405. woodlaketavern.com —J.R.